Last stop: Vienna

I don't mean to start this post off on a bad note, but I've gotta say: Vienna is overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty city and there's a lot of interesting things to see there. But I heard from lots of people that it was amazing or the most beautiful city they'd been to or other things along those lines. So I had very high hopes. I guess to look at this in perspective, Vienna did have a couple things going against its favor. For one thing, it was the last of four cities on a ten-day-long trip. We were tired. A little sick of traveling. Longing for our own beds at home. Another problem was the weather. I can stand the cold. I don't like it, but I am from the northeast and we do get some relatively cold winters, so I'm used to the cold. What I don't like is constant cold, rain, and wind. That was day one in Vienna. Day two was freezing cold with a bit of snow. And lots of wind.

Okay, so not ideal. I told you this wasn't going to start out on a positive note. But I've gotta add one more thing to this list, something that kind of is Vienna's fault: the city, though not exactly huge, is overwhelming. Or at least it was for me. There are a lot of things to see there and they're all spread way the heck out. What also didn't help this situation was the fact that the only map we were given was this ridiculous, gigantic map of the city that wasn't really ideal for tourists. Sure, it had a blown-up map on the back of the city center, but that isn't much help when half of the things you're looking to see aren't in the city center. So basically I spent two days looking like a stupid little lost tourist, folding and unfolding my map and yelling at it as it tried to blow away from me in the wind while I was holding it with one hand and my umbrella in the other.

Brrr. I am cold. Don't let the smile deceive you.

All right, enough of that. Now the good stuff. There were some things that I really liked about Vienna, and actually, I think my favorite thing of the entire trip was a museum we went to there (more on that later). So as I said, there's a lot to see in the Austrian capital: many museums, a few palaces, lots of parks, lots of churches, one of the world's most famous opera houses...too much for just two days. So of course we had to narrow it down a bit, and in doing so we had to do a few solo tours of the city. Day one we started in the historic city center. We checked out the cathedral, another really beautiful church, and some of the main squares and streets. Then we went to the opera house for a tour. We briefly debated waiting in line for standing room opera tickets for that night, but then decided touring the place was enough. I do wish we'd had a chance to go (I've never been to the opera, and I think it would probably be an interesting experience), and I think if we'd had more than two days in Vienna, we may have done it. Oh well, next time.

After the tour, we split up to go to different places. I went to a small art museum called the Vienna Succession, which was opened around the turn of the 20th century. The museum space has the same name as a movement began by artists and architects, led by painter Gustav Klimt. The group held several exhibitions, the most famous of which (in 1902) was one dedicated to Beethoven and included a work that remains in the museum today: the Beethoven Frieze. The work, by Klimt, is basically three mural-sized paintings that cover three walls of the exhibition room. It's probably best for me to just quote the pamphlet that I got at the museum in regards to the work's meaning or purpose, since I know and understand very little about art: "The frieze takes its theme from Richard Wagner's interpretation of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and depicts humankind's search for happiness." There's a lot to the work (which thankfully the pamphlet explains, otherwise I think I would have been pretty lost), but it's really only best seen in person. Since it's displayed on three walls, seeing an image online doesn't really give you the same experience. I thought it was pretty cool, though. The rest of the museum wasn't really my sort of thing (modern art, ew), but it was worth going to just for the Beethoven Frieze.

Anyway, after the Succession, I wandered over to Belvedere Palace, which is a palace used as an art museum. I'm not really much into art, but I started to actually really like Klimt's work, and there are a lot of his paintings at Belvedere, including one of his most famous ones, The Kiss. Unfortunately, I didn't really have enough time to go into the museum, and decided to just walk around its gardens instead. Next time.

Front view of Belvedere Palace.

On the second day, Nicole and I went bright and early in the morning to the Schonbrunn Palace, which is a bit outside of the city. And good thing too, because we had to wait a little while before we could enter the palace, and when we left the line just to buy tickets was insanely long (and out in the cold!). Anyway, the palace was built in the 16th century as the summer residence of the Austrian royal family. It has some really beautiful and extensive gardens, which we spend a while exploring. Once we'd had enough of the freezing cold and the wind (and a little bit of snow), we headed back into the center of Vienna for lunch and some more wandering around. Not sure why we decided to do that in the cold, but we did. We first went to Stadtpark, a park dedicated to famous Austrian musicians and composers. Interesting, but a little underwhelming. After that we decided we really deserved some sort of hot beverage. And Austrian pastry. Yum.

Back view of Schonbrunn Palace.

Fountain in the gardens of Schonbrunn.

After our snack/respite from the cold, we went to the Haus der Musik. This was perhaps my favorite thing of the whole Germany-Austria trip. I'm not really much of a musician and I don't know a ton about music, and I've forgotten a lot of what I did learn. But I did spend somewhere around thirteen or fourteen years playing the violin, and this museum, well...made me miss my violin. Basically, this museum is just dedicated to music, as simple as that. The first floor has some historical information about the Vienna Philharmonic, a video playing the latest Vienna New Year's Eve concert (so cool), and a few other things, including a wicked awesome (that's right, so awesome I'm pulling out the "wicked") game where you and a partner each roll a set of dice to compose your own waltz. Anyway, the second floor has all different things about sound - the physics of it, how we perceive it, etc. The third floor is dedicated to the most important Austrian composers, including Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, etc. Each room is dedicated to the life and career of each composer. Unfortunately, we didn't get to the 4th floor because of time, so I don't really remember what would have been up there. Anyway, the museum is so worth going to, even if you don't know much about music. And it's so interactive (especially the floor dedicated to sound).

Anyway, so there's my long spiel on Vienna. Hopefully I haven't discouraged anyone from visiting, because it is a nice city. Just not my favorite. Perhaps if I went back I would have a better experience.

So there. Whew. Finally, only about two months later, I'm done writing about Semana Santa. If you've made it this far reading...well, you're a trooper. Auf wiedersehen for now.